Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

Billy Graham says it’s no accident that the Scriptures call the Third Person of the Trinity the Holy Spirit. One of the main functions of the Holy Spirit is to impart the holiness of God to us.

God wants all of us to enter into a true sanctification process with Him so that He can begin the process of molding, shaping, and transforming us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ. He wants to make us into a better and more holy people. He wants to transform us by the renewing of our minds. He wants to put right thinking into our thought process.

He does this by developing a Christ-like character in us—a character marked by the fruit of the Spirit.

Let’s talk about becoming God-like.

In the very beginning, God created each plant, animal, fish, bird, etc. to reproduce “according to their kind.”

Genesis 1:11, 12: “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it…according to their kinds.”

Genesis 1:21-22: “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let the birds fly…So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing…according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.” “And then God blessed them and said, ‘be fruitful and multiply…”

Genesis 1:24: “And God said, let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.”

So there seems to be this sort of law or principle of identical harvest. That whatever something is, it will reproduce identical to what it originally was. And we have enough gardeners here, enough people who have had pets that have had babies, to know that this is true.

Then after creating all these creatures, God created man. And how does He create man? In His own image! Gen 1:26: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him…”

Accordingly, when God brought His Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, the church, to build His church, the objective was create in us certain personalities and character traits. He is creating in us in His own image. We are His kind!

God is creating Himself, in us, through the Holy Spirit.

We’re going to start talking today about the fruit of the Spirit, the produce, or result, of the Holy Spirit living inside of us and producing fruit. This fruit is a supernatural outcome of being filled with the Spirit, and is the living proof that the Spirit of God dwells in us.

Paul provides a profound, yet simple list of nine Christian traits that comprise the fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. According to Paul, these distinctive traits are evidence of a life that belongs to Jesus Christ and is filled with the Holy Spirit. He tells us in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The Holy Spirit is transforming us! 2 Corinthians 3:18 is proof of that: “And we…are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Just like any garden that produces fruit, growing this fruit in our lives requires cultivation. But who is responsible for that cultivation: the Holy Spirit or me? That’s the question.

We can’t make ourselves like Christ. We can’t develop these qualities in ourselves, but we can continually direct our attention to God and partner with Him; and in this way the Holy Spirit produces the fruit in us.

How is this fruit produced and how does it grow in us? There are some words in Scripture that tell us.

Let’s talk first about Psalm 1. A major overall theme of the Psalms is “the future belongs to the Godly”. Psalm 1 starts right out with this theme.

This short psalm contrasts the righteous and the wicked. Read Psalm 1.

As we read: about the righteous, it says,

“…his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season

And whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

So clearly the bearing of spiritual fruit is directly related to the place God’s Word has in our lives. Notice it doesn’t say just read, but “meditates”. This involves reading, knowing, studying, and memorizing God’s Word. Because the one who meditates continually reflects God’s word in his or her life. God’s Word must take center stage in our lives. We must have a God perspective in our lives.

If we want the full fruit of the Spirit to grow in us, we must join our lives to Him. Let’s look at another passage that describes this.

John Chapter 15 is a fellowship, or relationship, chapter. We’re in the first part of the chapter, where Jesus is dealing with the disciples’ and all believers’ relationship to Him. Read Jn 15:1-8.

Jesus compares our relationship to Him to branches of a vine. The vine is Jesus. He says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No vine can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (v4).

When we became believers, we were grafted to the vine.

He goes on to say, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

We see from these verses that to receive the fruit of the Spirit we must have a close, intimate relationship with Christ, with nothing coming between us. We have to be inter-connected. This is why things like prayer, Bible Study, and fellowship with other believers is so important.

Another thing we find from these verses is that we are virtually powerless without Him. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.

Fruit of the Spirit is evidence of being connected to Christ. Just as branches of a tree or a grapevine have to be connected to the trunk in order to bear apples or grapes, we have to be continually connected to Christ to produce fruit.

Unless we, as believers, are seriously connected with Him, there can be no quality to the fruit. We can produce no good fruit. Continued production depends on constant union with the source of the fruitfulness.

How can we stay continually connected to the Vine?
Prayer
Obedience
Knowing His Word and applying it
Being dependent on Him

Look at our own lives. What can we do to become even more connected to the Vine?
Remove sin from our lives
Remove temptation from our lives
Repair broken relationships
Refocus our attention

June 21, 2022

Let’s finally begin to talk about the nine character traits Paul mentions making up the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). You may notice that these are not referred to as the “fruits” of the Spirit. They are thought of as one. They aren’t individual, isolated fruits, but rather are all springing from one root and connected to the same vine, constituting a whole.

The fruit of the Spirit is not really like the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are spread among all the believers in the church for the purpose of edifying, or building up, each other. Instead, unlike the gifts, all Christians should be marked by all the character traits of the fruit of the Spirit.

These nine traits are presented by Paul in three triads (a triad being a group or set of three connected things). Since we’re talking about fruit, you might think of them as clusters, as Billy Graham did.

Triad 1: Love, Joy, Peace

The first of the triads is love, joy, peace, which speak to the Christian’s relationship to God. They are simply the result of communion with God, continually communing with God.

The first of these traits or qualities is love. God divinely inspired this first quality of the Spirit to be love. There should be no more distinctive mark of the Christian than love. No matter how much we witness or give testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ, the absence of love nullifies it all. Love is greater than anything we can say, anything we can possess, or anything we can give. As we said last week, the essence of the law is summarized in this: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love is the life sap which rises through the tree, or the vine, and gives form to all the clusters. When I first read this, I pictured a tree whose trunk had the word LOVE written in huge letters inside of it to demonstrate that it’s the foundation. The branches, or clusters, or triads of the fruit of the Spirit, cannot live, cannot exist, without this foundation, love.

In our language we have only one word for love: love. But in other languages, there are different words for different kinds of love. Let’s talk about a few of these in the Greek. (Why Greek? Because the New Testament was written in Greek.) There is “eros” (sensual, sexual, selfish love); there is “phileo” or “philos” (fee’-lows) (brotherly love that one might have toward a friend or companion); and “storge” (store-jay’) (family love, among mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, and brothers). The love that Paul speaks of here, however, is agape love. You are probably familiar with this love because of the popular 1 Corinthians 13 passage used often at weddings. Have someone read 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 aloud.

The word used for love in this passage is agape. It is divine love. It originated in the heart of God. It’s demonstrative. It’s actually a “doing” rather than a “feeling.” It’s the love of God expressed through us to others. It’s sacrificial love. The requirement to love is not an option; we are to love whether we feel like it or not. It’s only through the Spirit that can we do something that we have no desire to even attempt.

I want to make a major point here. I’m tempted to have a discussion of ways that we can demonstrate this true, sacrificial agape love. Because after all, this love is demonstrative. But I’m not going to.

Many of us come from a background of needing to follow rules and traditions, and we’ve been taught to worship in that way. I know we want all kinds of ideas about how to live so we’ll have the fruit flow out of us. We want the checklist. But if we concentrate our discussion about ways we can do it, we take the Holy Spirit out of it.

Remember what our job is—to partner with the Holy Spirit, who will produce the fruit in us. And how do we do that? By walking with the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, living in the Spirit, being continually connected with the vine. So I’m going to concentrate on that rather than listing a bunch of ways we would demonstrate the fruit. I’m not saying we shouldn’t strive to do things. (Absolutely not!) But the point I’m trying to teach here is the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of our actions. The fruit of the Spirit will cause our actions, but it’s not the other way around. Our actions don’t cause the fruit.

It might have been enough if Paul had simply mentioned just this single trait of love, because love embraces all the fruit of the Spirit. Without it, we can have none of the others. And without God, we don’t have agape love. It comes from Him. We often dismiss our lack of love for others because “we’re human,” and therefore incapable of loving people, especially those who are unlovable, who have hurt us, who don’t agree with our views, etc. But 1 John 3:20 says, God is greater than our heart.

Have someone read 1 John 4:7-16. We can’t do it without God, and with God, we can’t help but do it. Because God is love, He abides in us, He lives in us. We know that He lives in us and we live in Him because He gave us the Spirit (Read 1 John 3:24 and 1 John 4:13). The Holy Spirit equips us with agape love.

The Pharisees asked Jesus which commandment in the law was the greatest (Matt 22:36-40). His response: “You shall love the LORD with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is from The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Let’s actually go to that. It’s such a foundational truth in our belief.

We can see then how crucial agape is to God, that it is His foremost command to His children. ”Agape ME.” Do you know that even the capacity to love God is completely divine and supernatural? God will supply you with an ever-growing love for Himself. Ask Him. When we love God first, then we can love others as we love God. Love will characterize our lives when we abide in Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. Remember, from 1 Cor 13:8, “Love never fails”.

The next character quality in this triad is joy. The joy that the Spirit brings to our lives lifts us above circumstances. So joy can be ours even through the most trying situations. Because it’s given to us by the Holy Spirit.

The Greek word for joy is “chara” (kar-ah’). It means joy, rejoicing, gladness, enjoyment, bliss.

There’s a Greek word that’s closely related to “chara”, which is “charis” (kar-ees’). This word is grace, which as we’ve talked about many times, means unmerited favor. God puts his favor upon us, even though we don’t deserve it.

Do you see a relationship between chara and charis? Joy is written into grace! Joy is inseparable from love and is impossible without it.

It’s like God is telling us, “If you only understood what grace means and what you have received because of it, you would never cease to rejoice!” We have certainly received a great gift from God, our salvation. Even if we never have one external thing to rejoice about, it is enough that we are born again! When we consistently focus on our great salvation our joy will be full. In Luke 10:20 Jesus says, “…rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” How can we not?

And we can have joy even when we have trials, tribulations, sufferings, pain, sadness, or whatever state we’re in. How else can we explain joy when we have experienced a devastating loss? The joy which the Spirit brings us lifts us above circumstances. It’s the Lord’s joy. When Jesus was telling His disciples about love (John 15), He said, “I have told you this so that my joy will be in you and that your joy may be complete” (v 11). He is the source of our joy.

What are some other ways that the Holy Spirit brings us joy? There’s a common theme among some stories in Scripture, whether actual true events or parables, and that is the joy that comes from discovery. When we discover the one most perfect treasure, Jesus, we are filled with joy. That was true of Mary when she ran after discovering an empty tomb. It was true of the shepherds when they were visited by angels and heard the good news of great joy. It was true of the disciples when, at Jesus’s ascension into heaven, they finally understood the Scriptures. It was true of John the Baptist when he was in his mother’s womb and discovered the Messiah in Mary’s womb standing next to Elizabeth! Will you look at your life’s circumstances and discover Jesus there? Because if you do, you will find joy there.

Then you will find even more joy when you find that you are even more connected to the vine. When you abide there. When we are connected to Him, He is connected to us. We can find joy when we find that He is there, even in our depression, in our dark despair. When all seems hopeless, we can still rejoice.

Run to him when you feel alone, when you’re exhausted, when you’re afraid. He is there, He gives us His joy, and our joy can be complete.

The last quality in this first triad of the fruit of the Spirit is peace.

The church that I used to attend in Lansing sang this verse at the end of each service: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee” (Isaiah 26:3).

God was the original Peacemaker. His purpose was to create free persons to live in harmony with Him and with one another. He sent His Son, Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), to inaugurate this kind of peace. This kind of peace is within us.

Where do we get this peace? Peace can only be built upon the two qualities we just discussed, love and joy. This peace can’t come from the world. It can only come from God.

Before Jesus’ death he told the disciples he was going to leave them with peace. When He was among them after his death and resurrection, He told them, “Peace be with you!” Clearly, He gives peace. Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians that Jesus Himself is our peace (Eph 2:14). So this peace is His, and only His to give. And freely He gives it.

Certainly our existence in this world is filled with things that cause us fear, worry, and turmoil. We know that even though we have faith, we are not exempt from storms, death, disaster, all kinds of trouble. But this kind of peace rises above all that. Who can accomplish that??

True peace comes not from the absence of trouble but from the presence of God. When the peace of God resides in our hearts and minds, our hearts and minds are protected from external influences and kept focused on God. This peace allows us to eliminate worry and fear from our lives. Who can understand that?? Philippians 4:7 tells us this peace transcends all understanding. It’s the Spirit within us that keeps our hearts and minds free from anxiety. And the fruit of that is peace.

We don’t have to worry about the future because we know who holds the future: the One who conquered death and is the true constant in our lives. It gives us hope and knowledge that He is in control of all things.

Bill Gaither wrote a song Because He Lives. You may know it. The chorus says it all:

Because He lives

I can face tomorrow

Because He lives

All fear is gone

Because I know

He holds the future

And life is worth the living

Just because He lives

Let’s remember that verse that I quoted first, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee” (Isaiah 26:3). When we have a mind that is stayed, or focused, on God, this peace can reign in our hearts.

Praise God for the Holy Spirit which places in all of us, the fruit of the Spirit, peace.

June 28, 2022

As we said before, the first triad of the fruit of the Spirit, these three qualities clustered together, have to do with our relationship with God. We see that our relationship with God produces outward fruit which others can see.

Triad 2: Patience, Kindness, Goodness

The second cluster–patience, kindness, and goodness–has to do with the kind of Christians we are in our outward relationships.

We have been talking about how the fruit of the Spirit is produced in us, by being continually connected with the vine. We can only produce this fruit when we continually direct our attention to God and partner with Him. Get this: When we allow the Holy Spirit to control us, He works to transform us, causing the buds of patience, kindness, and goodness to begin blossoming and becoming fruitful in us. This makes the Son shine before others, through us. Isn’t that a beautiful word picture?

Let’s talk about the first quality in this second cluster: patience (some of your versions may say long-suffering). Billy Graham said, “Patience is…something we so often admire in others without demanding it of ourselves.”

When I read that in his book, The Holy Spirit, I wrote next to it, “Hmmm, we desire it, but do we demand it?” I think it’s a very convicting question. I remember being at a point in my life when I was continually asking God for patience. I think my kids were teenagers. Can anyone relate? That was a PERFECT opportunity to gain some patience.

Does anyone remember the movie Evan Almighty? As a Congressman, Evan Baxter (Steve Carrell) is trying to change the world, and also prays to become closer to his family. In response, God (Morgan Freeman) gives him a challenge to accomplish this through one Act of Random Kindness (ARK). So he sets about building an ark. His sons get to work with their dad, but his wife thinks he’s going off the deep end, and asks God for patience to deal with this whole situation. So God, posing as a server in a BBQ joint, has a conversation with her.

“Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”

So the Holy Spirit gives us this patience in our lives that we long for, but based on our willingness to learn it. And how do we learn it? By working through situations presented to us where we can practice. We practice patience to develop patience.

God is trying to get us to understand that patience is His nature. Patience is a part of who God is in dealing with us. Remember, God is creating Himself, in us, through the Holy Spirit.

How is God patient? And why is God patient?

We see many examples in Scripture of God’s patience: His dealing with Israel as they grumbled through the wilderness; His patience as His Son, Jesus, is rejected and scorned throughout His ministry; His patience with the Disciples as they try to learn what He’s teaching them; with Peter even though He knows he’s going to deny Him—three times; with Judas, even though He knows that he’s going to commit the ultimate betrayal.

We see God’s patience when we look around the world and see all the evil things going on, and God doesn’t appear to us to be doing anything about it.

We definitely see God’s patience toward us as He develops and refines us in His image. Because we are s-l-o-w.

Clearly, the patience of God toward us is absolutely staggering. So why is He so patient?

God doesn’t show us patience based on our behavior – patience is who He is. He said so Himself.

Moses was up on the mountain getting two stone tablets, the Ten Commandments, from God. When he came down, he saw that, in his absence, the Israelites had built a golden calf to worship. So he threw the tablets down and broke them, the people were punished, many were killed. When Moses went back up the mountain to talk with God about it, God said, about Himself, “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth...” (Exodus 34:6 KJV).

In essence, He was saying, “I am the Lord God. I am merciful and very patient with my people.”

Time doesn’t mean to God what it means to us. For Him, “…a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). So He is not slow to keep His promise, not like we understand slowness. But rather, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

That’s why He is so patient. Because His patience results in repentant souls. His patience means salvation (2 Peter 3:15). We learned in 1 Cor 13 that His love, His agape is patient.

This journey of experiencing God’s patience isn’t solely for us to “learn a lesson.” God sees the bigger picture, which we sometimes (usually?) miss. When we receive God’s patience, it causes a longing in our hearts to share it with others. It compels us to extend His patience with everyone who crosses our path. We know that His patience was essential not only for our salvation story but for everyone we meet.

The most important lesson we can learn here is that patience is not something we do, but rather who we are in Christ. We gain in our patience, often by practicing patience through our experiences, so that we become more like Him. Remember, that’s what the Holy Spirit is doing, creating God in us. Second Corinthians 3:8 says, “We…are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Day-by-day, step-by-step. Be patient.

The next two traits, kindness and goodness, are so closely related, they’re really complementary. Without kindness, goodness becomes harsh and self-righteous. Without goodness, kindness becomes indulgent tolerance. So we’ll look at them together.

Kindness is the second quality that grows outward from this cluster.

The Hebrew word is “hesed”, Strong’s 2617. This word has a lot of meanings. I bought a book last fall at Winsome Women that was written by one of the speakers, Michael Card. The name of this book is Inexpressible Hesed and the Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness. He says this word is untranslatable and inexpressible. But nevertheless he provides what he calls this ever-incomplete working definition:

Hesed: When the person from whom I have a right to expect nothing gives me everything.

The Greek word for kindness, chrestotes (kray-stott’-ace) Strong’s 5544, can be described as “a gracious attitude,” “a nurturing spirit,” or “tender concern of God.” It’s the genuine concern of the believer to treat others gently, just as the Lord treats him.

Kindness is that temper or disposition which delights in contributing to the happiness of others, which is exercised cheerfully in gratifying their wishes and which supplies their wants or alleviates their distresses. Kindness is not just a sweet disposition but is a serving trait.

Goodness is the third segment of this cluster.

In Greek the word for goodness is agathosune (ag-ath-oh-soo’-nay) Strong’s 19, and means “an uprightness of heart and life.” It refers to the quality found in a person who is ruled by and aims at what is good. It represents the highest moral and ethical values.

In Hebrew, however, it’s “hesed!”

Goodness here means “benevolent” and “active goodness.” It’s more than kindness; it is character energized, expressing itself in…benevolent, active good. But it’s even more than doing good; it’s deeper than that. It’s actually agape love in action. It’s doing good out of a good heart, to please God, without expecting compensation or rewards.

We have to consider the purpose for remaining on this earth after salvation. These verses in Ephesians 2:8-9 were instrumental in me becoming a believer. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” This is a salvation verse! So it’s no coincidence that the verse immediately after that tells what happens afterwards. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

So what kinds of works have we been saved to do? We’ve been saved to do good works. Ladies, we’ve been saved to fulfill an assignment God issued in advance!

But we can’t do it without the Holy Spirit. Oh, we can try it, but it won’t last. Hosea 6:4 says, “…your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew, it goeth away” (KJV). True goodness, God’s goodness, is a fruit of the Spirit, and not a fruit of us, so our efforts to achieve it in our own strength alone can never succeed.

It’s one thing to have “good” high ethical standards, but quite another for the Holy Spirit to produce the kindness and goodness that comes directly from God. Only the spirit of God in us can cause us to give everything to a person who has no right, or even reason, to expect anything. Only God in us.

These three qualities, patience, kindness, and goodness go together, and are perfectly shown in the life of God, who is the example of what you and I are to become. When through the Holy Spirit these character traits become part of our lives, others might be reminded of Him.

July 12, 2022

To review:

The first cluster of the fruit of the Spirit–love, joy, and peace–has to do with our relationship with God.

The second cluster–patience, kindness, and goodness–has to do with the kind of Christians we are in our outward relationships.

Triad 3: Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control

Now the third cluster of the spiritual fruit, comprised of faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, has to do with the inward person. When we are what we should be on the inside, then we will bring much fruit.

I read quite a few commentaries and other sources on faithfulness. Interestingly, they all said something different; there were quite a few different perspectives. So I’m going to focus on a particular one. All through this study of the fruit of the Spirit, I’ve been trying not to focus on the things we should do, but rather what we supernaturally become as a result of the Holy Spirit residing in us when we stay connected to the vine, Christ.

Beth Moore asks us to consider the relationship between faith and faithfulness. Faith is not an action; it’s a response. The book of Hebrews explains faith: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Faith is a response to this sureness and certainty. But sometimes it’s hard to be sure of what we aren’t so sure of.

On the other hand, we can be sure about God’s faithfulness. When we learn that He is faithful, then we may be blessed and grow likewise in our own faithfulness. So we’re going to talk about God’s faithfulness.

The Greek word for faithfulness is pistis (pee’-stees). Some of its meanings are firm persuasion, conviction, assurance, belief in the truth, reality. It carries the idea of giving someone credit. In a nutshell, faithfulness is believing the reality of a sovereign God.

I’ve read a book, The Story of Reality, by Gregory Koukl, which absolutely changed my life. It’s the story about things that really happened, or are going to happen. The subtitle is, “How the world began, how it ends, and everything important that happens in between.” It’s the story of God. The reality of God.

We believe in God. But beyond simply believing in Him, do we believe Him? In the day-to-day demands of living? In the home? In the family? In the crisis? Do we believe who He is and what He says? Do we believe that He will keep His promises? Do we believe that He will do what He says He will do?

Believing the reality of God will change your life. The degree of our faithfulness is the direct result of our belief in God’s faithfulness. Do we believe in God’s believability? Faithfulness is resting in His certainty, being persuaded by His honesty, trusting in His reality, being sure that He’s sure and believing that He’s worth believing.

Deuteronomy 32:4 describes God as “… the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.”

Psalm 145:13 tells us, “The LORD is faithful in all His promises and loving toward all He has made.”

2 Timothy 2:13 tells us that even “if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.”

And there are so many other verses that tell us about God’s faithfulness.

God created us because it gave Him pleasure. Hebrews 11:8 says, “…without faith it is impossible to please God.” And then in that chapter there follows a whole list of believers in whom God was pleased because of their faithfulness. Our calling as believers, then, is to continue to please Him. How? By faith. Believing in who He is.

However, often we get sucked into believing in what He does. Do we base our faith on what God does or who He is?

We will rarely be able to perceive God’s actions. But the good news is, He doesn’t call upon us to seek His works. He calls upon us to seek His heart! So when we seek His heart, staying connected with the vine, remaining in Him, abiding in Him, believing Him, believing that He is faithful, giving Him credit for everything, our faithfulness grows.

The next trait in the third cluster is gentleness. Some of your versions may say “meekness”.

I have a book that I’m currently reading, when I have the time, which is Gentle and Lowly, by Dane Ortlund. The author says that in the four Gospel accounts given to us in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there’s only one place where Jesus actually tells us about what’s in His heart.

Matthew 11:28-30:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Synonyms for this word, gentleness, are humility, meekness, mildness, goodness, kindness.

When I looked up “gentleness” in Strong’s, it led me to the Greek number 5544, and you’ll never guess what I found there: the Greek word, chrestotes (kray-stott’-ace), which we talked about last time when we were talking about kindness.

One way this word is described “tender concern of God.” And it fits perfectly with how Christ described Himself. Gentleness is not one way Jesus occasionally acts toward others. Gentleness is who He is. It’s His heart. He can’t un-gentle Himself.

Before you say, “yeah but, Jesus wasn’t gentle with the Pharisees! Or with the money-changers!”, let’s talk a bit about gentleness. Jesus often did confront the Pharisees. Other times he simply answered their questions that they had designed to test Him. He did confront the money changers in the Temple, His Father’s house.

One of the synonyms for gentleness is “meekness”. But that doesn’t mean mushy and frothy. Meekness means “strength under control.” So Jesus was able to confront those who were blatantly twisting His Father’s laws. But he was able to do it by strength, under control. That’s the gentleness that the Holy Spirit is building in us.

Remember we’re talking about being transformed into Christ’s likeness. That’s the purpose of the fruit of the Spirit in us.

I want to leave you with a final thought about Jesus’s gentleness. Remember the verse I read to you earlier, Matthew 11:28-30. His gentleness is for those who come to him, who take his yoke upon them, who cry to him for help. For believers who trust in Him. That’s us, ladies!

Last but not least we consider the final character quality in the fruit of the Spirit.

The last trait in this last cluster is self-control. Some of your versions may say temperance. It comes from a Greek word meaning strong, having mastery, able to control one’s thoughts and actions, restraining our passions and appetites.

The key to self-control is to refuse to allow our enemies (whether that be the flesh, our strong desires, the world, Satan) to take us captive, or to rule us.

I read something interesting that I hadn’t noticed or thought about before. God demanded that walls of protection be built in every dwelling place He chose to grace. Solomon built a wall around Jerusalem after the first Temple was built. Even the tabernacle in the wilderness had a portable wall to provide security.

Where does God the Holy Spirit dwell today? 1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?” We are the temple of God, and self-control is our wall of protection.

Christ has given us victory over our flesh (our human nature), our world, and Satan. They have no authority over us. We are the only ones who can re-extend that authority to one of these enemies. They can only rule where they are invited.

Self-control is the ability to make choices which invite and enhance the authority and filling of the Holy Spirit. It’s the decision to remain within the boundaries of the victory God has already given us.

Proverbs 25:28 says, “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.”

How are we able to make decisions that keep us within these protective boundaries? By staying connected to the vine! I talk often about having a “God perspective”. Everything that we experience, everything that happens in our lives, all that goes on in the world, should be seen through the perspective of God. God is the center of our universe. Everything revolves around Him. He controls everything. He either causes or allows everything to happen. We need to live our whole lives in accordance with the mind of Christ. When our eyes are stayed on Him, our spiritual eyes are opened and we start to understand Him better. We begin to see His ways, and His thinking gets down into our hearts. Then we are better able to make these decisions.

The struggle for self-control is ongoing, but praise God, He makes it available and attainable!

Now a final word on the fruit of the Spirit: This is the life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit (Gal 5:25, the Message), so let us keep in step with the Spirit, walking with the Spirit, living in the Spirit, and staying inter-connected with the vine. I was reminded Sunday that Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”

That is why we have the fruit of the Spirit.

https://groundworkonline.com/blog/the-fruit-of-the-spirit#

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holy-spirit/what-are-the-fruits-of-the-spirit.html

Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Volume 1: Old Testament, Kenneth L. Barker & John Kohlenberger III, Consulting Editors, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/galatians/5-22.htm

https://www.bible-knowledge.com/fruits-of-the-holy-spirit